


Tattoo

by orphan_account



Series: 30 Seconds to Mars Drabbles [12]
Category: 30 Seconds to Mars
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-07
Updated: 2012-09-07
Packaged: 2017-11-13 17:46:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/506094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story behind Jared's and Shannon's mars arm tattoos.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tattoo

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of the prompt "Tattoo"

he two Leto brothers entered the tattoo parlor with slight apprehension. Each had a sheet of paper with the image they wanted on their skin in their hands.

            “How may I help you gentlemen?” inquired a blonde woman. 

            Jared placed the paper on the counter, “We would like these please.”

            “Okay sweetie, and where do you want them?” she asked as she look them over, “These are some weird symbols, they mean somethin’ to you?”

            Jared smiled, “Hopefully a future.”

            The woman smiled, “A future, hmm. Interesting. So, where do you want them?”

            “I want the four of them on my forearm,” Shannon said, baring the skin, “blue up by the elbow and red at the wrist.”

            The woman nodded, “And you sweetheart?”

            “Just this one, on the wrist,” Jared answered, pointing to his right wrist, “black outline, red inside.”

            She smiled and looked at the two, “They don’t seem too hard to draw. I’ll trace them up for ya and be ready in a few minutes. You two go sit there and I’ll call ya when it’s time to come up.”

            The two brothers sat in the cheap, plastic chairs by the window. Jared’s leg bounced anxiously as he waited. Shannon chuckled and leaned back. “It’s not that bad.”

            Jared frowned, “Yeah, you already have one.”

            “Exactly, so I know it’s not that bad.” Shannon reasoned, “You’ll be fine.”

            Jared sent his older brother a glare. Until he felt the needle break his skin, he was going to be nervous and anxious. This was his first tattoo, and Jared wasn’t a fan of the unknown. The young brother’s leg hobbled up and down and he couldn’t help but nibble on his lower lip. Shannon sighed, “Do you want me to go first?” he inquired.

            Jared sighed, “Matter who’s she draws up first, which will probably be me since I have just the one glyph and you have the whole set.”

            Shannon shrugged, “I could just tell that I want to go first.”

            “I’m not a baby Shan,” muttered Jared.

            Shannon frowned, “I didn’t say that.”

            Jared exhaled heavily, “I know. Damn it, I hate this. I’m a fucking adult.”

            “Everyone has their fears,” Shannon replied with a small shrug.

            “Yeah, Mr. I’m-Afraid-Of-Spiders.” Jared said; smirking.

            Shannon glared at Jared, “I’m trying to comfort you and you insult me.”

            Jared chuckled, “What? I’m sorry but when I can’t picture a man like you afraid of little tiny spiders.”

            “They’re little tiny animals that appear out of now where and they have eight legs and eight eyes and they crawl all over the place and they have fangs,” rambled Shannon.

            Jared laughed and lowered the muscled arms that Shannon was waving around, “Alright, I get it. Spiders are freaky fucking bugs.”

            “Yes, thank you,” Shannon huffed.

            Jared chuckled, amused at his older brother’s antics. “Shannon Leto.”

            Shannon perked up. The woman stood there, smiling. “It’s your turn first darling, you’ll take longer than he will.”

             Shannon nodded and trotted over to the chair. He sat down and put his right forward on the rest. He shivered as the lady sanitized the skin and shaved off the small amount of hair there. “Okay, let’s get the stencil down.”  She muttered as she laid the tracing paper thin sheet onto his skin. She rubbed it so the small amount of ink transferred. “I’m Sarah by the way, felt like I should introduce myself before I break skin,”

            “Shannon,”

            She quirked an eyebrow but gestured to the ink, “Good?”

            Shannon peered at it before nodding, “Blue towards the elbow and red towards the wrist please.”

            “Anything in the middle or just straight blue to red?” she inquired.

            “Maybe a bit of black here?” he said, gesturing to the edges of the second and third glyph.

            “Will do dear,” Sarah replied as she started setting up, “Now, Shannon, that’s an odd name for a man… “She trailed off.

            “I think my Mom was just too lazy to change the name when I popped out a boy,” chuckled Shannon, “But I don’t mind it.”

            “Do you at least have a ‘normal’ middle name?” Sarah inquired as she broke skin.

            “Define normal,” Shannon replied with a smirk, “But, it’s Christopher, somewhat normal.”

            “Shannon Christopher Leto,” Sarah said before humming, “Interesting name. And who’s the boy over there?”

            “My brother.”

            “I’m guessing younger.” Sarah said as she finished the first half of the ‘thirty’ glyph.

            Shannon raised an eyebrow, “How could you tell?”

            “You hover over him, protectively. It’s not obvious, but I’m an older sister, so I know the signs,” she said with a small chuckle.

            “Didn’t know I hover,” muttered Shannon.

            Sarah smiled, “Eh, it’s part of being an older sibling.  My husband, who is the youngest in his family, said he couldn’t go anywhere without his older brothers being there. Used to drive him crazy but now he’s thankful for it. Says it probably kept him out of trouble most of the time,”

            Shannon chuckled, “Half the time, it’s Jared bringing me  _into_ trouble.”

            “And that’s the job of younger siblings, to make sure us older ones don’t get too boring.” Sarah joked, “So, I noticed your brother and you are getting this same tat,” she said, pointing to the ‘thirty’ symbol that was just finished being outlined, “Is this a brotherhood thing, like brothers for life?”

            “Well, considering we have the same mother we’ll always be brothers,” Shannon replied, “But, no, we’ve starting a band and we just got signed and these are our symbols. They were Jared’s idea.”

            “Jared Leto,” Sarah said, “Name sounds familiar.”

            “He’s an actor,”

            “Ah,” Sarah said nodding, “I think I had a friend that was in love with that TV show, My-So Called Life.”

            Shannon rolled his eyes, “Jay didn’t really enjoy it all the much, but anything to keep the food on the table and roof over our heads.”

            “Well, he must like it enough to continue doing it,” Sarah pointed out as she began outlining the final symbol.

            “He likes doing movies, but not the television show,” Shannon replied with a small shrug.

            Sarah nodded in realization, “Ready for shading, or do you want a break?” she asked as she wiped his arm clean.

            “Do it now, I’m fine,” answered Shannon.

            “Okay,” Sarah said with a smile, dipping the needle in blue, “So, what’s your band called?”

            “Thirty Seconds to Mars,”

            “Hm, interesting name,” Sarah said with a smile, “So, all your songs about space?”

            Shannon chuckled, “Nah, but that’s more Jared’s department.”

            “What is? Songs?”

            “Yeah, he writes them all.” Shannon said with a pride.

            Sarah whistled, “Mr. Creativity over there isn’t he?”

            “You have no idea,” Shannon said, “You have no idea how many homework assignments he screwed up because he wanted to doodle.”

            “Aw, that’s cute.”

            “Yeah, you should’ve explained that to my teachers.”

            Sarah chuckled, “You two sound cute as little ones. Probably gave your mother hell.”

            Shannon smiled fondly, “Yeah, we did.”

            “You two fight?” Sarah asked as she dipped into the black ink, “My brother and I always used to raise hell.”

            Shannon chucked, “We were every mother’s dream, we hardly fought.”

            “Lucky mother, my three and one year old haven’t learned that yet.” She said with a small smile.

            “Eh, they’re still young,” Shannon said.

            “You a father?” Sarah inquired.

            “Nah,” Shannon replied, “Kind of a good thing with the plan my brother has lined up.”

            “Must be tough being in the same band as your brother. I think I would go insane being with my sibling that long,” mused Sarah.

            Shannon shrugged, “I don’t know. I’m kind of used to it considering we live together and our childhood, and he’s not all that bad.” He added with a chuckle, “And I mean, I am the older brother, if he gets out of hand, I’ll give him a swirly or something,”

            Sarah laughed as she moved on to red ink, “I feel like I should be sorry for him.”

            Shannon smirked, “You probably should.”

            Sarah shook her head as she finished coloring the last part. With a small whoop, she cleaned the skin and smiled. “Well, there you go.  What do you think?” she said.

            Shannon looked at the four glyphs and smiled. “They’re perfect. Thanks.”

            Sarah grinned and wrapped up the arm, ‘Alright, I’m sure you know what to do since you’ve had a tattoo before.”

            Shannon nodded. “Okay, usher your brother up here,” she instructed.

            Shannon smiled and headed towards the front of the parlor, “Bro, it’s your turn.”

            Jared looked up and yawned, “Okay,” he muttered.

            “What did you fall asleep or something?” Shannon asked with a chuckle.

            Jared smiled lopsided, “Maybe.”      

            Shannon chuckled and gently pushed his little brother towards the waiting woman, “Go get your tattoo, I would like to go home before the sun rises.”

            Jared smirked but walked over and plopped down into the seat. “Hello,” he greeted.

            “Hey sweetheart,” Sarah greeted, “I’m Sarah,”

            “Jared.”

            “So, where do you want this?” she asked as she held up the stencil.

            Jared exposed his inner right wrist, “Right there please.”

            Sarah smiled and did the same procedure as she did was Shannon. “Okay, colors?”

            “Thin black outline, dark red inside.” Requested Jared.

            “Alrighty sweetie, this is gonna sting a bit,” she warned as she dipped her needle into the black ink, “Ready?”

            Jared exhaled slowly, “Yeah.”

            The young man winced when she broke skin, the hum of the needle loud. “So, you’re in a band with your brother,”

            “Yeah,” Jared answered as he leaned back and tried to relax, “We just got signed a few days ago.”

            The woman hummed in response, “So, I heard from your brother that you’re a songwriter.”

            Jared merely shrugged, a small blush on his face, “Yeah, but I’m not great.”

            “Your brother seems to think so,” Sarah mused.

            “Well, he’s biased.” Jared said with a small chuckle, “Makes it seem like I’m doing all the work,”

            “He’s proud, and it’s cute.” Quipped Sarah.

            Jared smiled, “Yeah, but I wouldn’t be able to do it without him.”

            “Oh, and what does he do in the band?” inquired Sarah as she finished up the last bit of the outline, “The coloring is going to hurt a bit sweetie,”

            Jared nodded, “He’s the drummer and he took the photographs for our first album and he helps write the songs, he just doesn’t want to admit it or he doesn’t realize it.”

            “Aww,” cooed the tattooist, “Aren’t you two the sweetest little things. I hope my boys turn out like you two,”

            “How old are they?”

            “One and three.” Answered Sarah, “They argue like crazy now, but I’m hoping that stops when they get older.”

            Jared chuckled, “Yeah, I think we had our age to our benefit. Shan and I are barely over a year apart.”

            “That’s it?” Sarah whistled, “Damn, your mother did that quick.”

            “Probably want us then quit right after,” Jared chuckled before wincing when he felt a twinge of pain.

            “Sorry,” she said as she wiped the area clean, “Just a bit more. Now, I heard you an actor?”

            “Sure,” Jared said with a small shrug, “I just mainly did it to pay the bills. I came here to be a musician.”

            The woman nodded in understanding, “Are you planning on staying an actor while you do your music?”

            “Maybe, matters if people still want me,” answered Jared, “I enjoy it, but I also enjoy music and I don’t want to pick between the two.”

            “You shouldn’t have to,” answered the tattooist, “But, it’s gonna be tough, but I’m sure with your brother there you’ll be fine.”

            Jared smiled and looked at the completed tattoo, “Yeah.”


End file.
